


your crowning glory

by deadlynadders



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Princess Diaries Fusion, M/M, also you're gonna have to strap in and WAIT for the gyuhao cause they hate each other, i love princess diaries so much i wrote this, other characters will show up soon, we all know minghao is a prince
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 06:36:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16613783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadlynadders/pseuds/deadlynadders
Summary: Minghao just wants his sixteenth year to be normal. He doesn't even really want anything. If one were to give him anything, he'd really like that film camera he saw in a Brooklyn shop window the other day. He gets a crown and a small European country instead and he has to ask — does this shit come with a receipt? He'd like to make a refund, thanks.





	your crowning glory

**Author's Note:**

> in celebration of me almost done with my exams and to cheer aamirullah up, i present to you, my child, born from my blood sweat and tears

 

Minghao’s normal.

He’d like to think so, anyway. He likes routine and predictability. Being unique or standing out in a crowd has never mattered to him. People might call him boring but he’s okay with that label. Hell, he welcomes it.

He has ten different flannel shirts that don’t look any different in his closet. His favourite breakfast is pancakes with maple syrup. Every weekend, he stays in and orders in a pizza (a pepperoni with extra cheese). If he’s feeling fancier, he goes out for a movie with his brother.

His therapist says his obsession with his routine and how he always goes back to what he knows is his way of coping with his less-than-normal formative years.

But this is also the same therapist that told him he had anger issues and he should write in a journal and avoid repressing. So, he takes her words with a grain of salt. He doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with what he does, really. At least he’s not out there dealing drugs and getting tattoos and running around town with his biker gang. His therapist doesn’t share his opinion. During their last appointment, she had said, “Minghao, you should try breaking your daily routine. Try something new and tell me how it goes, okay? Baby steps.”

 _Well_ , he thinks, climbing into a third-floor window. _This is something new_.

 

.

.

.

 

“Never have I seen such behaviour, on the first day of school, no less!”

Right after he and Soonyoung climbed into the window and got to the hallway, they were caught by Principal Gupta. Now, they’re in sitting in those uncomfortable armchairs in her office. Minghao’s never gotten detention on the first day but when he eventually does, he can tell his therapist he tried _two_ new things. She’d be so proud.

“Well,” his brother says, a little too cheerful for someone facing his executioner. “There’s a first time for everything, right?”

This isn’t the first time Minghao’s seen this same exact scene played out; a figure of authority yelling at them, Soonyoung blinking while maintaining whatever bullshit cover story and him, sitting quietly in the corner and letting his brother do all the talking. Soonyoung’s always been good at it; persuading people with his twisted logic and cherubic, chubby face and glacier-melting smile.

The headmistress pointed her finger at Soonyoung. “Don’t you start, mister! You are a junior but you are behaving like a middle schooler! Scaling the building and climbing into a window? This is an academic institution, not a rock climbing studio!”

“Ma’am, I think my entering of the third-floor window is an expression of my creativity and it’s sad that a principal of an arts high school is suppressing-“

The principal sighs, all too familiar with his brother’s flair for the dramatics. “How, Mr Kwon, was it an expression of your creativity?”

Soonyoung doesn’t miss a beat when he shrugs and says, “Performance art.”

“Out.”

The last thing Minghao sees before they escape from the office is the principal massaging her temples and taking out two Advil pills from her drawer. If it wasn’t eight in the morning, he’s sure she would’ve reached for the whiskey he knows she hides under her desk instead. He turns to his brother and says, “I am truly amazed at how that shit works, every time.”

“Being annoying is a gift, brother of mine,” Soonyoung smirks. “Every time you call me annoying, think about how my gift gets you out of trouble.”

“You’re the one that got me _in_ trouble.”

Soonyoung ignores him, unzipping his bag and goes through his things, papers rustling. “We were late and Mr Yang was standing by the entrance. He’d have given us detentions for three days straight. This way, we get yelled for a bit, sure but no detention. Hey, have you seen my schedule?”

He shakes his head, unzipping his own bag. Sometimes his brother shows an exceptional aptitude for critical thinking before ruining it by being the stock image of an airhead. He finds his copy of Soonyoung’s schedule he brought just in case Soonyoung lost his. (Which he did. He knows his brother too well.)

“You have European History, then break.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then!”

Minghao watches his brother disappear before heading to his own History class.

 

.

.

.

 

Schedule: Kwon, Minghao 

  1. HOMEROOM
  2. _WORLD HISTORY_



BREAK

  1. _PHYSICS_
  2. _ENGLISH II_
  3. FREE PERIOD
  4. _ALGEBRA II_
  5. _G &T _



LUNCH

  1. _PHOTOGRAPHY_



 

.

.

.

 

See, he’d never say this to anyone but Soonyoung being a junior is pretty worrying. He’s going to go to college soon and Minghao will be stuck here in the hell that is high school alone. Times when he remembers this makes him realise that it’s kind of sad his only friends are his brother and Seokmin.

Usually, he’d remind himself that he at least has Seokmin. So when Soonyoung does eventually graduate (hopefully he does), he won’t have to eat lunch in an emergency staircase or something. He’d die if he had to eat in the toilet like what movies always show. Like, he gets being a loner but seriously, the toilet? That’s unsanitary. He has Seokmin so he doesn’t have to have more friends unlike what his mother and therapist are always saying.

Usually.

But right now he’s sitting in World History and Seokmin is nowhere in sight. This is not ideal. History is already shitty on its own but being in History _alone_ is even worse. Minghao only knows a handful of people in this class and two of them are having an extremely loud, heated debate about something dumb. He’s too hungry to deal with this shit.

“Wow, I never thought I’d live to see the day someone actually defending imperialism. What, did you smoke crack for breakfast?”

“Imperialism was a necessary evil! The technological advancements, the end of feudalism —“

That’s Mingyu. He’s tall and loud and he’s in the debate club. Yugyeom — another absurdly tall guy — didn’t let that intimidate him, though.

“Necessary evil? Are you serious?” He sounds incredulous. “Technological advancements would have come without the evils of imperialism!”

“What’s the worst that happened — war? War’s inevitable, it’s human nature. Even without imperialism, they would’ve found a reason to kill each other, anyway.”

There’s a fine line between being opinionated and being an asshole. That line seems to be drawn in an ink that’s invisible to only Mingyu.

“Honestly, some countries should be _grateful_ for the Europeans. Without them, they’d still be living on treetops.”

That’s it. The last of Minghao’s restraint breaks.

“Shut the _fuck_ up, Mingyu.”

(There’s a gasp from their teacher — “Minghao, language!” — and their classmates’ sleepy eyes suddenly become more alert, eager to witness drama unfolding before them.)

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Minghao says. “Stop acting like you know everything. You don’t. So do us all a favour and shut the fuck up and let’s move on with our fucking lives, yeah?”

He has detention tomorrow but it’s worth the look on Mingyu’s face.

 

.

.

.

 

** MINGHAO’S CURRENT CONCERNS **

  1. He’s still as skinny as a twig. Dad used to say he’ll grow when he gets older because “puberty”. He’s sixteen now and he still looks like he’d break if someone brushes against him in the hallway.
  2. HE’S STUCK IN 9TH GRADE PHYSICS BECAUSE HIS DUMB ASS DIDN’T TAKE IT LAST YEAR
  3. Soonyoung made him scale a wall today. He’s gonna get an earful from his mom later.
  4. Soonyoung is also now a junior. Which worries him. Mostly because his only actual friend is his brother, who’s graduating soon. Maybe his therapist is right. Maybe he does need to get more friends.
  5. Did he mention he’s stuck in 9th grade Physics with freshmen. Fuck.
  6. He got into an argument with Mingyu which is an exaggeration. He just said a _bad_ word. You know, three times. Now he has detention.
  7. He’s probably going to get grounded for at _least_ a month when his mom finds out. (Not that he goes anywhere. It’s just. The idea of it that bothers him.)



 

.

.

.

 

The Gifted and Talented Class is a class specially designed to push the gifted students even further beyond their current limitations, ensuring their growth in their respective gifts. The class prepares holistic and rounded students who are more than their grades and tests. It is a true privilege to be placed in a Gifted and Talented Class as only a handful of students are determined to have the potential to be a Gifted student.

That’s a lie the administration, the staff and the school website tells the oblivious parents when really, the G&T class is pretty much, useless. They don’t do anything and the teacher is always engrossed in writing his debut novel. He’s been working on it for ten years now.

Despite its uselessness, the entire class made a pact not to tell their parents about it. As useless as it may be, it’s a free period they get credits for. There’s been one or two kids who’ve tried to complain but that’s easily solved when the rest of the class locks them up in the supply closet. Any rebellion is quickly snuffed after they hear the story of this kid who was always playing his annoying violin and complaining about _not being challenged enough_ who got locked in the closet for three periods, with only broomsticks and bottles of bleach to accompany him and his stupid violin. Minghao’s not too sure that that’s legal but hey, technicalities.

Minghao’s struggling with binomial functions homework he was supposed to finish yesterday and Soonyoung’s leaning back in his chair with a copy of The Bell Jar in his hands when a boy walks in. His black hoodie drowns him, red hair peeking out of the hood. Minghao thinks nothing of the new kid but he sees Soonyoung close his book, entranced. He narrows his eyes. He knows that look.

“ _No_. Soonyoung. No.”

“I haven’t even done anything yet!”

“I know what you’re thinking, no.”

It was too late, though. Soonyoung already has that look in his eyes and nothing short of a cruel, embarrassing public rejection is going to get rid of that look. Minghao’s been Soonyoung’s brother for a decade now and he’s seen this happen countless of times.

Last year alone, it was Krystal, Shownu and Jennie. Soonyoung had gotten the idea to pull off a public _Will you be my date for Homecoming?_ proposal only to be told by Krystal that she had a boyfriend whom she was very happy with but she was flattered, thank you. Then, Soonyoung fell heads over heels for Shownu after they did a group project together and it was truly, er, something. Minghao saw his brother “strategically” liking Shownu’s Instagram photos in hopes he’d notice but Shownu, being a normal person, obviously didn’t.

Okay, fine, the Jennie thing wasn’t really Soonyoung’s fault — Minghao has to give him some credit there. It’s more because Jennie is Mr. Yang’s daughter and being a teacher’s kid always sucks. He won’t let her date or something, like this was 16th century Europe and she has a shrew of a sister that needs to be tamed or whatever.

(Yeah, he’s read Shakespeare before. He has layers.)

Needless to say, none of Soonyoung’s crushes have worked out in his favour. Minghao can only hope history doesn’t repeat itself this time.

 

.

.

.

 

He’s no stranger to detention.

That’s just what happens, being Soonyoung’s brother and co-conspirator. He knows enough that Ms Raina doesn’t care what they do in detention as long as they stay there until it’s over and shut up so she can watch Law & Order in the break room.

He starts on his Algebra homework that he still hasn’t completed yet. Fucking binomial functions is a hassle and he doesn’t want to disappoint Mr. Kye. He’s on his third problem when Seokmin walks in, pulls up the chair beside him and takes out a book.

Minghao just stares. Seokmin looks up and with an air of nonchalance, says, “Yes, Minghao?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Detention.”

Minghao keeps staring. Seokmin and detention — two words that don’t belong in a sentence together. Soonyoung’s misadventures land him in detention all the time. Minghao’s “anger issues” gets him in trouble once or twice, if he’s not getting dragged down by Soonyoung. Even Mingyu - that piece of shit- gets in detention when teachers get tired of him.

But Seokmin? Seokmin, the one who’s in the Welcoming Committee because he’s genuinely nice and likes people. Seokmin, the one who gets straight A’s and sacrifices his time tutoring people instead of studying on his own. Seokmin, the only one who could get away with calling the teachers by their first name because he’s _that_ loved.

Seokmin Lee is _never_ in detention, is what he's trying to say.

When he doesn’t stop staring, Seokmin sighs. “Okay, I don’t _actually_ have detention. I’m just here to see my friend who somehow got into trouble in the first two days of the semester while I wasn’t around.”

“You are my conscience, Seokmin. My Jiminy Cricket,” he says, a little solemnly. “This is your fault.”

“Right. It’s my fault you went off on Mingyu," Seokmin deadpans. Damn, how did he know about that? "Like you haven’t done that since middle school.”

“Well, it’s not my fault he was just born like _that_.”

“I don’t even know why you hate him so much.”

Of course he wouldn’t. Seokmin likes everyone. He doesn’t understand the grating annoyingness that is Mingyu. Not the way Minghao does.

“That whole thing with him dumping lasagna all over you was _years_ ago.”

“It took me hours to get all the cheese out,” Minghao hisses.

“He might surprise you, you know,” Seokmin says, sounding a lot like a wise old wizard advising him on a life-changing journey. Something in his eyes tells Minghao that Seokmin actually believes that. Like he knows something Minghao doesn’t. Minghao rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, sure. He’ll surprise me and I’ll just _love_ him. Clumsiness and shittiness and all. Like a goddamn Disney movie."

Seokmin sighs and changes the topic, asking him about History homework and Minghao soon forgets the conversation.

 

.

.

.

 

The Lasagna Incident (as Soonyoung had dubbed it) starts like this:

 

He’s sitting in the stands partially shaded by some trees while his classmates play baseball in the bright, almost-summer sun. All because he has a (mild) sun allergy. Yeah, you heard him right. A _sun_ allergy.

He’s pretty sure God’s process in making him involved darts and a board of terrible things that could make one’s life hell. Like being an orphan (which he is), being incapable of muscle mass (which he is) and of course, the winner— a sun allergy, which he also has. Minghao is only mildly surprised he doesn’t have some sort of immunity disease that requires him to live in a bubble like that John Travolta movie. (Or the remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal, which is arguably, better.)

It sure feels like that sometimes. Like now he can’t be in the sun for longer than twenty minutes even if he is wearing prescription grade sunscreen. He stares at his classmates enviously as his lunch is left half-eaten. He’s considering playing anyway and think about the consequences later — (sure, he’ll get a terrible rash and a lecture but it’ll be worth it, right?) — when something  _gooey_ splatters all over him.

The first thing he notices is that the goo smells a lot like cheese.

He runs his hand through his hair, pushing the goo out and it falls to the ground with a loud _splat_. He sees it. It’s a glob of cheese and tomato sauce but before it was on his head (and neck and shirt and everywhere, really), it was lasagna. He immediately turns around because lasagna does not fall out of the sky randomly and sees a boy holding an empty tupperware.

(He doesn’t know the boy at first. Minghao had to point him out to Seokmin who just said, “Oh, you mean Mingyu?” He curses the name _Mingyu_ under his breath and swears he won’t forget the name.)

“You got your lunch all over me,” Minghao almost-snarls. He doesn’t snarl; it’s impolite and his mother raised him better than that. The boy’s gaze shifts from his empty tupperware to MInghao’s clenched fists to the cheese drying in his hair.

“I — I…”

Minghao waits for an apology. Maybe some grovelling. He doesn’t get one, though, because the demon sprints away like he’s the one with lasagna down his shirt. Minghao doesn’t think he’s ever seen someone run that fast. He curses and walks off to find Soonyoung who doesn’t say anything when he sees his brother with cheese in his hair. He just offers Minghao a clean shirt and help rinses all the cheese out.

That’s the Lasagna Incident. He wouldn’t have minded it that much if Mingyu apologised _eventually_ but the thing is, he never did. In the next few months before summer break, everytime Minghao makes eye contact with him, Mingyu just averts his gaze and scampers off. The next year, he acts like he didn’t do anything wrong by dumping the entire content of his lunchbox over Minghao’s head. That’s why Minghao knows Mingyu Kim is the worse absolute person in the entire world and nothing Seokmin says will ever change that.

 

.

.

.

 

It’s late when he finally gets home from detention. There was something wrong with the subway which — fine, he gets it, these things happen but he had to walk back which took a lot longer than if he just took the subway.

They usually have dinner around this time but Minghao knows his family won’t eat without him. The same way he knows Soonyoung’s probably starving by now and is whining about it. Ugh. He’s gonna have to apologize to his mom about that.

He unlocks the door, takes off his shoes and walks a little further inside the house to find his parents sitting at the dining table. He’s about to say sorry when the look on his mom’s face makes him pause.

“Minghao,” his mom says, wringing her hands. “We need to tell you something.” He raises an eyebrow at her weird behaviour and the general awkwardness of the situation. Last time his mom said that, he had to go through an unnecessary, awkward talk about sex with Soonyoung giggling in the background. “Is everything okay?”

“You might want to sit down, honey,” she says. “Your dad and I got a call earlier. It’s your biological family. They want to meet you.”

Yeah. Minghao thinks it’s time to call his therapist and move his appointment up.


End file.
